Adventure Comics 313

ADVENTURE COMICS 313 (1963)
by Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan

It’s really weird to review a comic about “Quarantine World” in 2020.

We begin with several Legionnaires suddenly feeling sick.

Specifically, it’s affecting all the girls.

Could this be a chance for the Substitute Heroes to help?

Nope!

The girl Legionnaires are sent to Quarantine World waiting to die waiting for the guys to find a cure.

But the Legion already has a rather high percentage of female members. How will they be able to cover for them? Maybe Satan Girl can help!

I think we can trust her.

See? She knows science stuff and she’s pretty strong! I think she’d make a perfect addition to the team.

Okay, FINE, let’s call Supergirl to deal with this.

Supergirl catches Satan Girl while she’s trying to kill the Legion girls. Well, she’s was already killing them, now she’s just making it faster.

Unfortunately, the two are evenly matched.

Satan Girl manages to escape, fleeing to an asteroid. Supergirl has a plan for how to deal with her: Kryptonite! Which, in the 30th century, you can find in any pharmacy.

Except… it does nothing to Satan Girl.

You might suspect her to be a Daxamite, but Satan Girl’s suit is lead-lined so she can’t be.
Supergirl’s answer: androids!

She then takes the Legion girls to a world where they’ll be safe, thanks to some alien balls.

This planet is supposed to be super-secret… but Satan Girl finds them anyway.

But even Supergirl’s anti-android weapon (what?) can’t defeat Satan Girl.

The Legion takes the girls to yet another planet, with the assistance of some friendly balls.

For rather obvious reasons they don’t stop Satan Girl for long, and she already knows where Supergirl is taking the Legionnaires…

…the Puppet Planetoid.

Which is not, thankfully, a planet populated purely by powerful puppets, but rather something pretty creative.

And that’s when Satan Girl shows up with an overkill amount of Kryptonite.
I’m starting to suspect she might not be one of the good guys.

The situation is pretty grim. Time to call the Legion’s secret weapon… pets!

I believe this is the first official use of the term “time bubble”.

The Legion of Super-Pets manages to restrain Satan Girl pretty easily.

And so Satan Girl is revealed to be… Supergirl!
Kind of.

In case you don’t know, Red Kryptonite is an idiotic plot device for lazy writers a kind of Kryptonite that transforms Kryptonians at random.

The effects of Red Kryptonite are temporary, so Satan Girl “dies”.

Don’t be sad. I’m sure Satan Girl is in a better place now.

At least I think she’s dead… in the last panel, SOMEONE is definitely wearing that costume.

Just a thought: if it’s that easy to make an indestructible costume that protects you from Kryptonite… why doesn’t Supergirl wear that all the time!?
Is showing her legs really THAT important!?

 

Legion significance: 0/10
Never referenced again.

Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Any story with Red Kryptonite ranks pretty high, and the planets we see are pretty weird.

Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
One of the rare Supergirl-centric stories of this period, the first story to feature all female Legionnaires… and everyone (boys and girls) except Supergirl does absolutely nothing during the entire issue. Satan Girl is a passable villain with a nice design; it helps that she’s drawn by Curt Swan instead of the usual John Forte, so we get some cool fight scenes and intense facial expressions.

We are legion
15 active in this story: Supergirl, Lightning Lass, Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet, Triplicate Girl, Sun Buy, Superboy, Mon-El, Cosmic Boy, Chameleon Boy, Brainiac 5, Colossal Boy, Lightning Lad, Bouncing Boy, Phantom Girl
5 not appearing but officially members: Invisible Kid, Star Boy, Ultra Boy, Matter-Eater Lad, Element Lad
1 honorary member: Elastic Lad

How much Legion is too much?
The Legion currently includes 21 people.